1
by CLOSED-CLOSING ACCOUNT
Summary: Original Character's Perspective Used Throughout. One new user into the fray. Sam isn't all that happy to find out that there's a new kid on the block. Specially one so cosy with Alan. Post-Legacy Rating and summary are subject to change. Formatting sucks, it borked when porting from googledocs.
1. 1

_1.001 - Format._

_I hate how the layout has been effected by the program switching going on. Unfortunately some of the text ends up in huge blocks and the rest is just fine. I am sorry about that and I have tried repeatedly to fix this issue. Unfortunately I am at the stage where I have given up trying to edit this and get it to work. _

_I just hope it's readable enough for people not to get too angry with. I'm sorry but unfortunately that's the way the cookie crumbles. _

_1.0 Disclaimer_

The following series is a FanFiction.  
Meaning it is a Non Profit! Derivative work of an existing project belonging to somebody else.  
TRON, TRON Legacy and any other TRON related projects all belong to Disney.  
I am not syphoning off their profits, and I do mean no disrespect to the established characters made by the designers and portrayed by the respective actors.  
This project is done for fun and will have an additional character of my own creation in here and there (you'll spot them miles away). Locations will be altered a little here and there and may differ from the originals.  
Character roles may also be altered but this is a Post Existing Movie fic.

1.01

The binary converter I use is this one _ . __ since it is one of the least cluttered.  
To make things easier for long strings of binary i port it over into a word program and replace all 0's with 'r' and all 1's with 'R' for Rinzler's 'purr'. So... yeah... i mean CLU could understand him right? so... it's not that implausible xD _

_Part of me wants to seem clever and not mention this... but heck I'm not Nitro and needed help making my own personal theory something more, well, real ^^  
The noise Rinzler makes is both a growl and a purr to me, looking up what other people say about the noise is hilarious. Hard-drives seeking is something more familiar to me than a broken coffee machine... Its both menacing and humorous at the wrong times for me. Either way when the noise is there beware xD  
Body language plays a vital part in Rinzler's communication, but constantly being in battle mode means not only is he hiding something. A damaged face... meaning he has to make the growl? Or a sneer permanently worked in because its more evil? That's up for us as fans to decide and manipulate for our own fantasies xD_

So.. binary... a good or bad idea?

1.02

Seriously... it just dawned on me I haven't even mentioned in the story anything about Nathanial's eye or hair colour. Or much about his clothing.  
LOL how did I not realise I'd missed out these details? (easy... the only time there's a drastic clothing change is in the Grid – the only time details happened to matter as I planned this out)  
It only just dawned on me by 1.3, the third chapter in the series. WHOOPS. I provided a crappy sketch and left it at that by accident.  
Hmm... I like green eyes, so let's say he has pale green eyes and brown hair. Yes... and for clothing... He's not one for high fashion so he will just wear whatever for the occasion. At work it's trousers and shirts since its an office block and he is front of house often enough.  
Yeah sorry about that, I was so concerned with the story and characters I forgot to describe much... With fanfictions there's the advantage of not having to describe the world the characters are in... since everyone already knows and doesn't need to even imagine too hard what existing characters even look like. So... whoops.  
I'll try to edit the snippets about Nathanial in as best I can... it would affect the first chapter more I recon...

Oh the joys of editing a huge area of text that is having layout issues.

_1.03_

_I did some digging into acronyms and there are a few existing meanings to NTRO - ones based on an anti terrorist organization... and I remembered the site this is from... and.. I am very happy with the results. It's just a little more background to Nitro that is retroactively given as I go along._

It makes a lot more sense considering how the program is used. He used it to cause problems when he used it as a hacking program and he alters the code back to its normal origins by the time 1.4 rolls around. I'm working on it I swear, ive had a busy week but i have a week off and should be able to motor through this Fic.

On the plus side it has not turned into a chore like many other projects of mine. I hope I can keep trucking to the end.

1.1

Nathanial Moran. It was official, all typed out in clear font on his new Encom access pass. The name he despised wholeheartedly, the name that when on clear display hinted more and more at the secret of sorts he wished to hide...  
That was the reason he went more commonly by Nitro, based on his old hacking tag NTRO when he was younger. Not that he was much older than two decades by this point. He didn't want people to underestimate him, or make the link to him and his father. Getting a job at Encom was part of a bigger dream for Nitro, he wanted to be taken seriously and not let people think everything he could have was because he was the son of the head of a computer firm.  
He didn't hate his father exactly, just the company he had no influence over... and ever since Sam Flynn began heading the company...Encom finally started becoming the company it should have been without the Dillinger's influence.  
He sighed and tucked the card into the bit of plastic at the end of his lanyard before grabbing hold of the mail trolley. It sure as heck wasn't what he had imagined working for Encom would be like, but a junior position was better than nothing. Juniors often moved up in such organisations, that thought kept him going past his trial period.  
It didn't take long before the mail cart was loaded up with paperwork and disks that needed to go from one department to the other. Office to office, floor to floor, cubicle to cubicle. Nitro let his guard slip walking on one of the higher floors and nearly rammed into an irate Sam Flynn, yelling something behind him into what looked like Alan Bradley's office. The brakes were immediately on and he had to wait for the chaos storm of Flynn and his female companion leaving.  
Of all the ways for the head of a company to act, it was just... Alan was made CEO and yet he was constantly in the firing line of everyone. It made him sick inside when he saw he had a hefty pile of papers and disks for his employer to sort through, especially after whatever that was all about.  
Nitro pulled some of his stray brown hair behind his ear before he knocked on the door and awaited it opening with the curt manager standing there in the doorway as usual. Instead a fairly quiet 'enter' of a weary man was the response.  
"Mail's here Mr Bradley" Nitro opened the door and made his way to the desk with the pile and put it carefully between the monitor and the family picture of Alan, his wife, and their baby by the look of it. "any outgoing?" he asked on autopilot.  
"..." Alan put his glasses back on with a sigh and eyed up the pile "maybe..." Something was troubling him and without a solid answer Nitro decided to speak up.  
"Something bothering you? I mean... I saw Mr Flynn and.." he realised he didn't know the female's name and decided just to taper off.  
"He's turning into his father..." Alan mumbled with a slight smile... mostly to himself Nitro gathered. The man paused and looked at Nitro, gears turning and he quickly typed out and printed out several sheets of paper "I need you to separate these and get them to the recipients" He held out the papers which were printed so each memo was A5 and all internal. "Quickly"  
"Yessir..." Nitro grabbed the sheets and made the direct order his priority... Lucky he kept stationary essentials tucked in a case on the cart. He was able to cut the papers apart as he walked and all of the department heads were confused but each immediately dropped what they were doing to go to the boardroom. Such was Alan's power it seemed.

~~~~~

It took a little more than a week for news to filter down and across the building. Dillinger Jr was causing a few issues it seemed. The previous head of the company was Kevin Flynn, before him a man called Edward Dillinger who unfortunately unleashed the MCP within Encom's servers and systems.

Nitro had to only sigh as more details became known over following days, Edward Dillinger Jr had been on the board of directors as the security consultant and one of the head programmers. Seemingly to make up for his father's errors and whatnot... This was only starting to prove to be the cover. Junior had disliked Kevin Flynn for what happened and the grudge held to attack back at Flynn Jr when he seemingly rose to power.

All in all it was becoming a mess Ala- Mr Bradley was getting worried and stressed it was hard to tell which as Nitro had made it his own vested interest to drop off some coffee and a snack atop the mail. Oddly his offers of support were welcomed and thankfully he wasn't told he was crossing the line.

Nitro wasn't sure exactly what was driving him to attempt to look after the man, he was married after all... He tried not to think about it as he put the takeout cup down and let out a meaningful cough to Sam Flynn. He shot a look at him with his pale green eyes that meant 'back the hell off before you regret it'. Sure he was glaring at the major shareholder, but not the man in charge of hiring and firing. While his eyes weren't all that spectacular... they could be damn icy when he wanted.

"Easy now..." Alan had clocked the recoil as he took a sip of whatever was brought for him today "hm... Hazelnut...That's ne-" Sam shot a look at Alan that made him sigh and shake his head. "No outgoing today Nathanial"

Not wanting to cross either man it was far easier to retreat and let them bitch at each other in private. Nitro made a mental note that the complicated half-caf-soy-cappuccino with a hazelnut twist and chocolate topping was the winner... Expensive too, but that happy contented smile had become worth it. Least his own straight black was easy to grab from the breakrooms... and he was paid enough to compensate thankfully.

That was beside the point... Something was happening within Encoms walls that wasn't being reflected on their output. Something everyone seemed to either know about or not give a crap about since Sam Flynn always seemed to be a gigantic pain in the ass before working at Encom and during.

Especially since just as he was about to clock out and leave... One hell of a freaking large box arrived. Damn thing seemed to fill the lorry that was carrying it from the delivery security screen. Being in charge of deliveries Nitro cringed and cursed whoever ordered something so stupidly disproportionate to the doors and stairways.

His curses found their target in Flynn, oh joy of joys. He snatched the clipboard from the driver and told him it would just have to be left in the loading bay as he signed for it. "You want to try and get it inside? or do we wait to take out a window on whichever floor it belongs on and winch it in" which was a far more realistic and cost effective solution to Nitro. Screw hiring a moving team he was the mailman and this box was mail.

The driver didn't care one whit and drove off leaving the two men to glare at each other in silent argument... only moments away from a pissing contest that would serve only to soak the loading bay.

"Ah, nice to see it arrived" Alan chimed up from inside the building, walking from the doorway to stand somewhat between the pair. Nudging Nitro out of the way in favour of moving his once surrogate son. "At least now we can decide what should be done with the Arcade" he clapped Sam's shoulder and looked at the box, the return address was clear as day and wouldn't take anyone long to figure out.

Nitro sighed "I'll get the paperwork, whatever this is can wait out here till tomorrow, you'd be crazy to want an old arcade game" since... what else could it possibly be. He'd have to do some after hours calling but he was fairly sure the window firm they used had an answering machine.

Sam didn't have much room to argue the point since his mentors assumption was proved correct. It would take a stalking mad genius at this point to realise that the box held the laser and main console his father had used. The console was being brought over for the sake of nostalgia, and the laser, well... It was far safer to house his one connection to the grid in a building that had other priorities.

Quorra arrived on Sams motorbike with a smile, everything at Flynn's had gone smoothly and she had taken her time locking everything up and getting to the company. Happily oblivious to the agitation prior to her dismounting and walking toward her partner.

Nitro briefly had chance to eye up the dark haired stranger over the camera feed, she was familiar and he struggled placing her. Maybe the one he had seen a while ago? He didn't dwell on it as he contacted the window company and the maintenance teams. Within twenty four hours everything had gone without many hitches and the stupid box had arrived where it should.

The entire floor was closed off and the buttons disabled on the elevators, it was incredibly odd and well.. Nitro was a curious sort and secrets like that didn't go down too well with him. He escaped working in the family business because of such secrecy. In many ways his fathers company dealt with the manufacture of hardware, but they did outsource and create their own software and had begun slowly battling with Encom. Not that he would readily admit to that.

He found opportunity to ask Alan on one of the slow mail days, also the day where his boss was slapping the heck out of his computer tower. "So... about that huge box?" He smiled and crouched by the tower... odd.. the noise wasn't from there, more the speakers.

Alan sat back in his chair "Not saying anything about that box... but I know that look"

Nitro was confused for a moment, he hadn't been at the company THAT long... but daily trips and other office encounters... made a little sense in an odd somewhat creepy way. "the noise... its like a harddrive, but... not"

The CEO smiled "its recent... since that box" it had been bugging him a while, that same noise. Since the Grid was hooked up to Encom's servers any time he logged on that noise was there. He knew the young man would put two and two together. It had only been there since the night previous.

Nitro paused a moment it was like a familiar ticking...it did sound like a robotic purr of a kind, but also... so very much like a rushed Morse code... "recent... but not that recent" he got his phone out and recorded the noise... with a few tweaks to playback...

#rRrrrrR rRRrRRrr rRRrrrrR rRRrRRRr rrRrrrrr rrRRRRRR#

"Hear that?" Nitro smiled in a small moment of triumph and on a rather blank response he sighed "its binary..." as far as he could tell it was noises of eight digits... "Alan?"  
"hm?" the manager glanced up from his paperwork, he had gone back to work while letting Nitro do his thing, he seemed to be interested and invested.  
"no.. I mean... the noise its saying 'Alan?' " He wrote down the binary '01000001 01101100 01100001 01101110 00100000 00111111 ' for his employer and on the line below he converted the binary into the current alphabet.  
Alan Bradley was surprised. He realised how quickly the young man had picked up on the coding and converted it and looked at him a little dumbfounded. "... you know binary?"  
"yeah... as well as the English alphabet" Nitro didn't think this such a big deal in front of an old school programmer, but maybe then it was. It was something he did with some of the elder employees in his father's firm... "been able to type since a toddler" he rubbed the back of his neck.  
Most of his life he'd been on the run from schoolyard bullies, he relished being in his current environment where the geek was god. He wasn't the smartest he would admit, but certain things he knew... he knew them damn well.  
Alan shook his head "Computers... codes... coffee" he pretended to think a moment "tell me, what can't you do?"  
Nitro almost answered before he chuckled "well darling... want that list collated and stapled?" he took the 'darling what would I do without you' from old romances Alan was bound to have caught over the years.  
Alan was a little phased by the response, but understood the angle after some thought. "no need... married" he hinted at the ring on his finger "however..."  
Nitro paused as he was leaving "however?" he had done the initial legwork for Alan and given him an answer to one of many potential questions. He did want to find out more for himself... but he knew it wasn't his computer... his place  
"I think a partnership would be mutually beneficial..." Alan stood from his chair and hinted that Nitro should sit down. A single dialogue box was open and everything else locked by Alan's own keys. He smiled "becoming my personal assistant is quite the leap... but I can think of no-one better"  
Nitro slowly made his way over to the desk and looked at Alan. He raised an eyebrow at him "so... I can finally drop the crap"  
"Yes Nitro, you can"  
"... Finally... I'll start filing for a new mail boy and as soon as its filled... I'll be all yours" He couldn't say fairer than that as he extended his hand "So... Coffee Alan?"


	2. 2

1.2

It was different reporting to Alan's office every morning, but it was fun. He had to keep a tab on his appointments and essentially manage his manager. He also felt a great need to check in on the mail room, it was his home for quite a while at Encom and he wanted to look after it as much as he was allowed.  
Not that he was restricted working with Alan. It was wonderful, Nitro moved his stash of stationary to his own desk by the door and he had enough time to study up on any computing areas he was lacking. Alan was even able to help and suggest books and specific systems when they had five minutes together.  
After a while he was rewarded his own Encom laptop, ready and able to log on to the company intranet and with limited remote access to Alan's own computer in case they had to go mobile for any meetings. It was odd in a sense being able to go to the meetings with board members, but still having to sit outside when things were underway.  
He didn't mind, there was always a letter to draft or E-mail to respond to. It was fun being kept mildly busy, but then with all jobs there happened to be annoying moments too. He hated when people came to take out their frustration on Alan and well... he took it on himself to try and divert their frustration by asking them to explain it all to him first. Sometimes it was a case of telling people just to restart their server block and do a full systems check... other times at least people were calmer before talking to Alan and able to explain well their frustration.  
Unless it was Sam Flynn. Nitro wasn't privy to their information it seemed and he ended up going on coffee runs with Quorra and taking a fair amount of time. He soon learned she wasn't just some bike riding bimbo and she was nice to talk to about even mundane things. He did try pumping her for information but she always managed to distract him.  
So... upon his return with coffee and cookies he was somewhat releaved to see the men laughing and sitting on the small sofa across from Nitro's desk. But then at the same time he wasn't so happy. His burning questions were starting to annoy him to no end.  
"Coffee guys" Quorra announced and broke the bond on the sofa, she smiled sweetly and handed a cup to Sam while holding her own.  
"Everything seems ok now then?" Nitro made a point of saying as he sorted out Alan's coffee into a mug and put the small biscuits on the saucer.  
"Yes, Nitro" was the controlled response from Alan, meaning 'Heel boy, heel'  
"Alright then" Nitro smiled and got back to his desk, glowering as discreet as he could while pretending to work away.

~~~~

"Go on then..." Alan put everything to one side and looked at Nitro at the end of the working day. "what is it?"  
"..." Straight to the point as always Alan... "Why on earth is Sam Flynn always so angry when he comes here?" they must see each other out of hours or something for the meetings to end so amiably.  
"... Because there's trouble with the system"  
"We have programmers for that... and i keep checking on things as best as I can" Nitro hinted to the stack of books on his desk.  
"not the system... THE system" Alan probed  
"... anything to do with the files i can never access?"  
"... Never?" Alan smiled and winked before picking up his briefcase  
Nitro glared back a little before sighing and grabbing his own things "So... the thing on the Intranet i have no access to. I have to hack it before you'll say anything?"  
"That's the way it works. Sam doesn't want me to say anything... but if you already know..." Alan opened the door and with a smile hinted enough was enough for the day.  
"Well... Challenge accepted" Nitro grinned

~~~~

Around a week or two later... well... Nitro slammed his head against his desk, repeatedly. Even after studying up on the codes he was weak on was failing him, not that it was much of a deterrence as he needed to know what the hell was going on.  
Dillinger Jr had started causing minor problems using remote access or spies to hack into the intranet and cause problems here and there... and some problems had began when that stupid box arrived. How on earth could an arcade game cause so much damage. He was suspicious but had no reason to think it was anything other.  
Alan shook his head gently and stood up "time for some coffee i think..." he smiled and grabbed his coat.  
"Ah yes... programmer fuel..." Nitro sat up and plucked a sticky note from off his forehead "straight black, Gevalia if they have it" He smiled sweetly and batted his eyelashes for dramatic effect. It wasn't often Alan was the one fetching the coffee, it was a nice change when he did, Nitro saw it as such a treat and it was a nice way to beat routine.  
Also on this occasion he noticed that Alan had failed to log out of his computer. Well... all of the important files were normally encrypted, his cipher was on his keys and went with him always. But maybe a quick snoop would help him indirectly.

#rRrrrrR rRRrRRrr rRRrrrrR rRRrRRRr rrRrrrrr rrRRRRRR#

Nitro nearly jumped out of his skin and searched for a dialogue window, it didn't take him a long time to convert since it was the same message as before 'Alan?'. Nitro frowned at the screen and noticed there was an application almost flashing.  
The application was for the most part a blank dialogue window. The cursor blinked and well... what harm could it do? 'Yes?' He decided it was easier with a short response, and one that didn't give much away. Just in case it would cause trouble for his manager.  
Lucky in many senses since whoever was asking answered in the same binary and asked for help. At first it wasn't clear at all what was needed, it was tricky putting the spaces between the right letters but he managed as best he could. It boiled down greatly to permissions and troubles coming somehow from outside the Intranet.  
Someone must have started hijacking the limited Internet connection to cause damage within the system. Whoever he was talking to knew how it was being done and just needed a few helpful shoves in the right directions, Nitro was all too happy to oblige...  
That was when he remembered he was still on Alan's computer. He cursed and told who he was talking to as quickly as he could type who he really was. The news didn't seem to phase who he was talking to and he finally earned a name and some access protocols. For the Grid.  
Nitro swiftly closed everything he had opened down and went back to his own desk, thankfully in time for the coffee and glee! A muffin.  
Alan sat at Nitro's desk and made sure there were enough saucers and whatnot for them to have a good old civilized break. It was fun, almost like a little distracting tea party... and it stopped Nitro just whorfing down everything and pouncing back on his laptop. Though he was itching to find more about this TRON he had encountered...  
"Say Alan... does the name Tron ring a bell?" Nitro ditched his tact and just mentioned it, Alan would know he used his computer but at least he knew that he didn't completely snoop..  
"... Tron … Monitors all contacts between our systems and other systems. It finds anything going on that's not scheduled, it shuts it down" Alan smiled and quoted his age old description of a program that Flynn seemed to regard as a valued friend.  
Nitro thought a moment "so... a firewall?"  
"Somewhat." Alan didn't mention that the original code was most likely lost beneath Kevin Flynn's influence and reprogramming. He kept some hope that what he created was still his. He also didn't voice his suspicions since... Nitro was good, but by his own admission not good enough to break Alan's own codes in such a short space of time.  
"Well..." Nitro stood with a jolt, that coffee doing the trick "time's a wastin" he chuckled and cleaned up before ushering his boss to his own desk. "You have a board meeting in half an hour by the way" He made sure the right paperwork was placed on Alan's desk for review and he opened the door just before Sam waltzed in.  
"Yes, something's going wrong as usual... No he doesn't have time he has to get ready for a board meeting... unless you want to take your position instead of relying on a proxy" Nitro managed to get all of that out before Alan coughed at him to shut the heck up... and after a sigh he did "how about you be helpful for a change... Alan lost his CEO position before, it can happen again" He warned and looked pointedly at them both.  
Alan stood "Enough Nitro, If you can learn how to reprogram and hack... I can surely learn how to head a company. I didn't have the knowledge before... I do now" hint as sure as a sledgehammer to the skull. He was telling him off and at the same time encouraging him to look into things more.  
Nitro merely nodded with a smile and grabbed his laptop and the packs for the meeting that had been delivered in the morning. Sam could only watch him walk past and tried to figure out what just happened.  
He needed to talk with Alan again, things on the Grid were getting worse... and no matter how much he seemed to fix the problem something else seemed to start going wrong. He needed the help of an old school programmer since any new solution he could think of was failing.  
Nitro cared not for his problems since he saw them as just Sam being Sam... but part of him did niggle. Enough so that while he was on his exile bench he was able to use the instructions the program left him to not only open a conversation window... but something called the Grid seemed to be setting up.  
Turned out that the Grid was what everyone was up in arms about... Tron filled him in slowly at first... before the binary converted into the common alphabet and it was much easier. Seemed a little tweaking here and there was awesome.  
It took a while for the awesome to wear off, and when it did... well... Nitro could barely understand the code that made up the Grid. He explained as much to Tron and the program simply replied it knew the solutions but had no power to do so... well... that would take some doing...  
It didn't even dawn on him the meeting was over as he was typing away. Alan watched a while before lifting the laptop and walking a few steps with it. Nitro glanced up and smiled "great, keep holding it that high" he chuckled and almost laughed harder when Alan simply turned and remained holding the laptop.

He knew what it was like to have moments where you'd need a crowbar to remove him from his keyboard back in the day. Sometimes his wife struggled to tear him away even now, especially when he was working on things to help his son with assignments.

In little time they managed to move to the office and without any major injuries Nitro was settled half on his chair and starting to squint with the effort.

"Need I ask?" the ex programmer asked with a smile.  
"Grid, Tron, Flynns secret... MCP reject..." Nitro shrugged and his fingers started cramping up "that should do it... i think..." he turned on the fan and held his hands in front of it.  
"..." Alan sighed deeply "you already know of Tron.."  
"It's... He's telling me a lot. The Grid is unlike anything I've seen... modern and old programming mashed into a big complicated pile of computer goo..."  
"Goo?"  
"Yes.. some of it... it just.. doesn't make sense. Most of it's beyond me... Some... some is old school enough for me to manage" Nitro chuckled and shook his hands, he had feeling back in them which was good.

~~~~

At first Nitro had taken the whole secret of the Grid thing quite well, the more he looked into it the more he was overwhelmed. Most afternoons he gave up trying to understand it all and ended up talking to Tron when he was available to communicate. Seemed there was some difficulty opening communications sometimes...  
"Well, how do I fix it?" Nitro spoke into his headset as he looked over some Encom paperwork Alan had to sign.  
"The I/O towers are too far apart..." matter of fact as always... Nitro didn't even bother to ask what in the heck the program actually meant. "It's tricky either way"  
"Like that helps you overgrown bucket of binary" Nitro moaned as he started tidying the office up as it was the end of the day.  
"Now that's mean... Flynn was much nicer"  
Nitro could only laugh, that phrase coming out of all of that growling was hilarious, Tron could speak to him in text just fine but vocally it was always that binary. "Least I'm not as bad as this Sark you mentioned"  
"...true..."  
Nitro thought a moment, there was hesitation there, he was almost sure of it. "Wish there was a way I could help sort out the problems..." Sam was seemingly patching things up here and there, and Tron was one of the ones involved stopping the attacks. Nitro was trying to help Tron and trying to help patch things up. Alan was of little help to him and now he was beginning to understand why Sam was so pissy all of the time.  
"There is."  
"Oh sure, wave a magic wand that makes me know the Grid inside out... smoothing out all of the problems with the Encom merge?"  
"Almost. Think more a... Digital Laser."  
Nitro walked into his desk and cursed... "sorry... what!"  
It was almost a saving grace that Tron was seemingly incapable of laughter as he explained that there was a near fictitious laser hidden within Encom that could transfer Users into digital space. He also explained that with some help inside the Grid he could gain access to the Laser and use it to bring Nitro into the system.  
After some thought it made sense... and so. Nitro found himself practically breaking and entering his way into the laser room. It was poised behind a console that was humming away and plugged in to so many wires that disappeared through the flooring, from the relative sizes... this was that stupid arcade box.  
He prodded the main part of the console and it almost came to life, a prompt window was waiting for him and asking for his name. He smiled and shook his head, Tron had told him exactly what to type.  
Yes... The Aperture was clear...


	3. 3

1.3

Nitro couldn't believe his eyes... but he could believe his sense of touch and hearing. It was suddenly so much colder and quieter than he was used to..

#rRrrRRRr rRRrRrrR rRRRrRrr rRRRrrRr rRRrRRRR rrRRRRRR#

"AAUGH!" Nitro nearly lept two feet from sitting and had to pound his own chest a little to make sure he was still capable of breathing and his heart beating. He turned slowly and his eyes fixed on a helmet of some kind. "T-tron?" He reached out a little and managed to stroke one of the figures crossed arms.

"The figure, Tron, nodded as... holy cow this was really happening. He was a program wasn't he? But there he was, standing in front of Nitro and breathing. A computer program was breathing and standing in front of him.

Nitro took a step back and perched his bum on the desk "This... is really happening isn't it..." he asked aloud to himself and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He jumped a little again when Tron 'spoke' to him, only it was a little more controlled, a little softer than he had become used to "We need to get you an identity Disk." Tron reached for his disk and showed it to Nitro briefly.

"Well... sure..." Nitro nodded, made sense to take Tron's lead, he knew the world they were now in. He was led to and gently pushed onto a huge flying thing he would later learn was called a Recogniser.

The armoury was a cold looking place and it gave Nitro the creeps to be there. Not that the sirens helped in any way as they moved in unison to surround him and, holy crap, they cut away his clothing. He could have sworn he heard Tron laughing as he tried to somehow cover up.

He didn't realise how futile it was at first... then a layer of digital fabric wove its way up his body. It left his arms bare as he poked and prodded his stomach, it was odd for sure. The sirens held out fingerless gloves for him that when pulled up reached and remained past his elbows, while the others pressed what he could only guess to be armour on him.

Nitro ended up preoccupied running his fingers over the backs of his hands, odd how his No and Mars ( ) symbol tattoos were now lit up through the fabric. Too busy to notice the he had missed the speech about the Identity disks -not that he needed to listen as his head flooded with code, in a near instant he knew that he knew what an Identity disk was... and he knew exactly where he was.

"Follow me." Tron walked down a corridor expecting Nitro being up to the task (even though his head was still spinning) and pointed out some racks on the walls "You're no fighter. We will have to fight." He hinted toward the more commonly used batons and a few grenades. All built to do minor damage in the game arena, but then... Nitro had Tron, a champion among programs... and an identity disk of his own to use.

Nitro grumbled a moment but saw little point in arguing. He had told Tron enough about his days of being bullied and other occasions for them both to know he needed defence and distraction. "... Why is all of this here anyway?" He picked up a belt of flash grenades and slapped them on, good thing everything was labelled...

"The Games" The program seemed to mull something over and made the follow me gesture again. He led them to an elevator that while rising asked for their identity disks to be placed in a stand of sorts Tron placed his disk in the holder and he stopped Nitro doing the same.

"Backups. We derez, die... we are restored to pre game point" Tron looked over to Nitro as he was clearly confused. "Something Sam Flynn worked into the Grid. This... The Games" something resembling a shudder ran down the programs spine. "Think Gladiator Arena" Nitro didn't understand Tron's feeling of dread. He hadn't learned about Rinzler yet, and while Tron had never been derezzed... he knew of a pain far worse.

"Safety net... got it... but..." Nitro didn't want to think too much about a society that sent its people to the death and called them games. Didn't work out too well for those that employed such value on life in the past. He wondered why he didn't have to do the same but didn't bother asking. The elevator stopped and Tron's disk was released. "So... um..."

"Disk Wars... Extreme Frisbee, only... lethal..." Tron had learned a few things from Sam Flynn and intended on filling this user in from the start. And... he intended to push him to see what this user was capable of. From their communications Tron didn't have his hopes on a high peg.

"B-but-!" The pair were split up by the rotating randomiser and Nitro ended up face to face with another program whose helmet wasn't as complete as Tron's... odd, why-

A better idea for Nitro would be to run first think later as a disk whizzed by him, he felt the heat from that warning shot and squeaked. A good old classic 'meep', before he grabbed the disk from his own back. To his sides he could see programs becoming voxels and realised this was as serious as Tron was trying to make it sound.

A helmet of sorts whizzed over his own head to protect him and he tried flinging his disk at the program across from him. It went wide, horribly so. "Oh come ON!" the other bouts were over and everyone was waiting on him. Waiting on him to destroy another being or be injured badly... Nitro preferred thinking of the former and after claiming his own disk back he hoped programs were built like humans...

He ducked the disk before running toward the program, it was stupid and risky but hell was it worth it. He kicked the program in the crotch and on the recoil he stabbed the poor male in the chest. He crumpled into voxels and the crowd loved the carnage.

It was awful. His shin was throbbing and he hated the sympathetic pains from his actions. Oh, and to top it all off, there was another round. Such fun... His last tactic wouldn't work on this one, she was ready for a fight.

And she was faster too "uh-uh..." Nitro said more to himself in somewhat of a whimper as he high tailed it from the female. It didn't take long before he was floored and part of him realised at that moment _he_ may well have been made of flesh and blood, but the program would have seen him as another program.  
He let himself scream... then a spray of voxels crumbled atop him. While he may not have been killed by a fatal blow... it would have hurt and injured him for sure. He was still reeling from the thought as a hand firmly grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. A familiar growl reached Nitro's ears and comforted him to no end.

A disgruntled crowd seemed to watch on as the Disk Wars had been disrupted by the main challenger making his way through bouts other to his own. Taking out more programs than he was required... all to get to the cowering one that surely had to be destroyed. It dawned on some of the crowd that this one Tron was protecting could be a user. After a while of confusion most of the arena went quiet. Was there another user beside Sam Flynn?

He knew he was in trouble, or at least he hadn't done the right thing. Really, since Tron wasn't talking to him at all. Even when they were moving from one location to another the program... the man, he was silent. Well, quiet with the occasional clicking noise from under that helmet.

The destination was high up, a penthouse almost, with huge panes of what Nitro could only presume was glass. It had a few booths on one side, a bar in the middle... oddly vacant... and other benches and drawers on the other side that looked used. "this is cheery.." Nitro spoke up, overlooking the Grids bleak landscape. It was pretty and chilling at the same time.

"End of Line." Tron clapped a hand on Nitro's shoulder and paused a moment "Sam Flynn, uses this as a... headquarters." Nitro was pulled to face that dark helmet and it seemed an eternity before either of them spoke "I. Should not have made you fight" The program finally let go of him and went to the bar.

"It happens... now we just know i suck as much as I thought." Nitro found he could laugh and went to one of the windows, looking out at the cold light on the horizon. It was just... one big freakin test. He didn't appreciate being messed around like that, but then... it was done for valid reason. Programs were inherently logic in many ways, emotion as far as Nitro gathered was such a human thing.

Tron tapped his shoulder with a glass of some shining blue liquid, after some hesitation he took it and drunk it. There would be no sense poisoning him if he was needed after all. It tasted odd... but he felt so great, he almost missed the flare up of Tron's light patches before that helmet closed on the head of hair he could see.

"Say... what's with that helmet?" Nitro watched Tron turn around to face him and there was an ominous pause. That helmet slipped down into nowhere and boy, his answer was staring him in the face.

All up the left side of Tron's face was a scar of red and black, almost like pulsing circuitry... it seemed to start at his jawline... possibly a little under the suit... and branched out a little as if Tron's face had cracked and was showing his true self. His mouth seemed clamped shut through sheer will, and his eyes were on the floor.

"... Tron..." Nitro stepped closer and gently put his left hand on the clear side of the man's face. Sod it, he was a man, there was too much regret on his face to be just a simple line of code... "Why won't you look at me?"

"... Rinzler" Tron stepped from under Nitro's grip and the helmet went up again. Nitro was a little stunned at that voice... the first time he had heard it, and it was so pained. It would be better to ask Sam what he knew about this... Rinzler, it was too painful for Tron.

Nitro took a plunge "So... all of that's damaged code right?" He was met with a nod "Right, then... all I have to do is fix you..?" it sounded right in theory... but then he'd have to ask Alan for everything he had on the program.

Tron held out his Identity disk flat in-front of himself in both hands, his holographic head appeared for a moment before fading into the disks circle. Part of Tron didn't want the similarities in Alan's and his own appearance to be obvious yet, not yet. He was too uncertain about Nitro's admiration for the man and Kevin Flynn had once mistaken him for Alan.

Nitro paused and nodded, all he would have to do is reach in and... look at the explosion of code and alterations. This would be a source code solution there was so much to... He looked up at that helmet and put his hands over Tron's.

"I can't, not yet... I have to talk with Alan." Nitro thought it best he was honest, Tron was just relieved not to have to explain more about the monster he had become at Clu2.0's hands. It took a while for Nitro to realise he was still holding Tron's hands, the program had made somewhat of a cough noise and twitched his hands a little.

"Soo... it's awesome meeting you 'n' all that... but... there was more wasn't there?" Nitro guessed back to business would help them both at the time. But then, while his own cheeks reddened he had no idea what went on under that tinted protector.

"The I/O towers... We need access to more of them." Tron held out a small data card for Nitro... who had no idea how to read it "put it in your disk, you will know." Tron demonstrated by putting the card in his identity disk and watching it spin round madly. Once it stopped he plucked it out then placed his disk back on his back, this made his eyes flash a moment and it was clear the information had been synchronised.

Nitro obeyed and found out all he needed to... which was freaky... but he was full of one hell of an idea. That portal over the sea was a sign the Users were on grid. It was also the best place to get any signal so to speak... He had a brainwave and started babbling out his ideas and plans.

Tron could only step back out of the way while the User paced... Humans were odd and impulsive, but... he fought for them and admired them. They were the perfect flawed gods, making most up as they went along. Able to admit their mistakes, unlike most programs he happened to know.

He neglected to mention that some of the existing towers were overrun by an enemy of the grid. Sam would help him take care of that when he next visited, while Nitro would gradually alter things for the hopeful future.

Thinking of the future... Tron grabbed Nitro's arm and pulled him onto one of the small elevating panels. It wouldn't be favourable for the two users to meet at this time and not because of Sam.

Nitro just went along with the ride, all the way to the portal. He stepped backwards closer to the light "... I... I'll be back when you want me." He dared to leave that vague. This man was someone he had been talking to for quite a while, someone he considered a close friend.

As instructed on the journey he removed his disk and stepped into the light. He didn't want to leave just yet, but he knew for his task he would need to be in his own world.

Nitro's phone was ringing. He reached out for it and after some half asleep fumbling managed to see who was calling, unfortunately it was just telemarketers that kept pestering him about a new contract...

Fortunately he managed to read the time. Which made absolutely no fecking sense... It had only been what... a hour? He didn't want to dwell on it all that much as he decided it was time for some chamomile.

One nights sleep and pow. His laptop would need a new keyboard in no time, though he wasn't convinced it would be a good idea. Better by a roll up one and make sure everything was backed up, and he needed to talk to Alan about Tron some more, he needed to steer clear of Sam, he needed to be able to get back..


	4. 4

Big thanks to Silvara for being patient enough to review this so far.

Didn't realise there was an edit needed until after this was posted on its mother site (my tumblr) so on 18/7/12 sorry about that

Also sorry the next chapter is taking its time. My enthusiasm may have dropped, but they idea is still sound and I will try and focus on this to make it one of my first completed projects of many I have started over the years

1.4

It seemed an eternity before Nitro was able to get any sleep, his eyelids felt like they were twitching as he read over his own notes. From what information he had gotten off of the program himself, and what he had been able to pinch and scrounge it was all so possible.

He had to lie back and relax, ignore the twitching and spasms as the caffeine of the week coursed through him. Part of him did consider giving up and trying other... solutions... But nothing really came to mind, any other drug would be illegal and far more damning to his body.

The rest of him... thought back to the day before on the Grid with Tron. He needed to know what the hell that drink was made of, he'd never felt so brilliant in his life before. The odd taste, that he could get used to.

The next thing he knew his alarm clock was screaming at him and his bladder was on the damn things side... With a groan Nitro hauled his ass out of bed and got ready for work. Part of him promised himself he would skip his morning coffee. The rest of him grabbed one at the hut on the way to work after he bought a nice and hopefully sturdy secondary keyboard and some band-aids.

Nitro was all perked up by the time he reached the office and everything was business as normal. Sorting out Alan for the day and editing the Grid code with Tron's help. Without that program bending the rules he'd have no chance,'His' program NTRO kept getting stopped at every turn.

Alan looked over his glasses to the incessant tapping and sighed, he could have sworn his assistant was possessed. That was, till he finally spoke something coherent (even if it was to the computer he was working on. Between him and the Flynns he had gotten used to unusual behaviour when it came to computers).

"Ok, I'm going to reboot everything. Let me know if it worked" Nitro groaned and leant back in his chair. He had been typing away for half an hour none stop, his fingers were sore and his brain was fried.

"Coff-"

"NO-!" Nitro almost fell off his chair shouting his protest... then paused, "you.. meant for you didn't you..?"

"The walk will do you good." It was clear Alan wanted to get rid of him for a while, and he didn't care how long that while actually was. "The usual please."

"Sure... Let me know if there's an update with the merger. I can tell the mail-room to move the packs out" Nitro stretched and mooched off. Part of him hated Alan when he was like that, but the rest of him loved him. He was looking out for him, the man old enough to be his father that was steadily replacing his own.

The staff at the coffee shop got the order ready for him as soon as he walked through the door, was he that predictable now? He didn't even have chance to cancel his coffee as it was put alongside Alan's on a holder. The fresh air annoyed him, everything was so bright and noisy. The grid was duller and quiet, but teeming with life. So much... Life.

He gave his coffee to one of the street beggars who thanked him profusely, Nitro smiled and headed back to the office a little happier. In many ways that beggar could have been himself, he was lucky he hated his father enough to want to run him into the ground by helping another company get an edge above him.

Encom was primarily concerned with software, but with the right nudges they had started plans to roll out a computer or two specifically designed to deal with the best of Encom's programs. It had been on people's minds for a while, then they remembered the arcade games from years back and the ball was also rolling to create a games console in honour of the dead, or dying, culture of games that helped the company rise in the first place.

That happy little buzz of Nitro's was however, short lived. Quorra was getting off of her bike out the front of the tower, she was dressed rather casually too. This meant that Sam would be at the company for a while and come running to Alan. Perfect.

Nitro forced a smile and walked with Quorra back to Alan's office. Turned out that Sam had gotten ahead of Quorra because of the traffic and not waited for her outside the building or anything. He tried not to think the worst of Sam as she explained they were both in a rush and there was some cause for alarm with something important.

A guilty pang struck Nitro, he'd modified the Grid without letting anyone (not even Alan) know what he was up to. They had most likely tried to remotely access the Grid and got no response. He sorted out Alan's coffee and put on his headset in a rushed but practised set of motions.

"Buddy, you there?"

"... Yes. The reboot went well. You should see this place now. It's almost like a free system again."

Nitro chuckled, even under that monotone he could tell that the program was getting excited. His formality had dropped and it was harder to translate since the noises were blurring into one here and there.

"Tron!" Odd... that sounded like... "What happened. This place is Chaos!" Yup, Sam Flynn, somehow managing to shout loud enough so his voice was clear even through that helmet. "What? It's not good, there's programs everywhere. I don't even know where half of these are from!"

"I'll talk later buddy, you've got your hands full" Nitro signed out of his laptop with a deep sigh. It took him a while to realise he wasn't alone "oh um... someone in dispatch" he smiled at the curious people and decided a walk around the building for old times sake would be nice. "That merger?" he asked Alan.

"Yes. The packs need sending out... I was waiting till I had your attention." And there was the mild reprimand about professionalism. It would be better had it come from a businessman and not an ex-programmer and family man trying to be a businessman.

"C'mon Quorra. I could do with a hand. There's a lot of paper to shuffle." Even by his normal standards Nitro guessed he was acting crazy. He had been mumbling and growling all morning and obsessively typing away, only to talk to Tron clearly. His priorities needed fixing and fast.

Quorra was happy to catch up with Nitro and he used her as an idea board, asking about the freedom of information. He knew that at first programs would be flocking to the scene, but he also knew that Tron would do his job. He also know Tron had help, not just in the program Ntro and his user, but in the other programs Tron had begun to train and work beside.

It was difficult for him to speak about the Grid without letting on he knew about it and had been, so he tried to speak in as general terms as he could manage without giving much away. Lucky in many ways she seemed extremely gullible and not one to take things to heart.

Though that luck ran out when they reached the office again. Sam was chewing Alan out about the changes with the Grid. The man didn't sound happy at all and didn't seem to like Alan's views.

Sam didn't want the information as open as it was, but Alan was trying to get him to realise the merger with the Intranet (and therefore snippets of Internet) was all on him... and it was his own father that wanted the Grid to be something so wide known it would be normal.

With that mood Nitro thought it better he keep quiet and wait for the shitstorm to leave. Which happened as soon as he arrived, dodging all of the questions that he was sure to come his way.

The office was a little tense after Sam and Alan saw fit to ask his assistant "So... the Grid has changed drastically, you were asking about my old Tron program..." the man took his glasses off and looked at the young man that now looked like a deer in the headlights.

"Well... I... Tron and I have been talking and he showed me the Grid..." Nitro sighed and got himself some water. "So... I altered things to make them easier. One main access point moderated by all our firewalls and anti-virus software, and a couple of other programs designed to limit access without inhibiting the users. This means easier and faster communication. Kinda like an upgrade"

"... So... If I ask for all of the internet access logs?" Alan did let some users access more than the Intranet, but he did need to monitor it when things started getting around. Or acting odd for back of a better term.

"You should get the results quicker and more concise, instead of just the I.P address it should have the user listed... That one was Tron's idea. They're going to start archiving access and well... try it..." Nitro shugged, in theory it was all sound. In practice however, he had little idea.

Alan smiled and did just that... before sending out quite a few cross E-mails across the company and a memo reminding about the recent virus attacks and the reasons for the Intranet being in place.

Well at least he was happy with the results. He took the memo down to be distributed and checked up on a few things before heading back to the office.

"One thing Nitro... Try not to let Sam get so annoyed. Let him know what you are doing. The Grid is something the Flynns worked on. Freedom of information will come at a price."

Nitro could only nod, there would be issues with using a central hub. So many programs to keep track of at once... it would be worth checking in on his ally and seeing his achievement work first hand.

Or it would at least be worth an ask "But... Alan... Tron was the one to ask me into the super secret club that's operating here. How... how do I break it to him?" Nitro sighed and went to get his headset again.

"Maybe asking the one that asked you might help?" Alan didn't want to have any more to do with the issues with the computers. He was the head of a company, that was all. He just needed to know dates, details, and deadlines... He preferred it that way, he had a family to look after and when needed, sure, he could and would step up to the plate.

Well... that was such a strong peptalk... All of the technical crap in the world he could do without. Sure Nitro was an assistant, but he was more the do as told and goof off type. Or was he.

Nitro hated Alan going all sage on him, he didn't care much for Sam... but... he was acting in the best interests of a legacy. He was only just starting to understand that, and it had taken him so long. All the time wasted on hate for nothing, they were both as territorial as one another. Maybe another reason he was rushed away by Tron and left in silence. Something bad must have happened to make everyone as they were.

Nitro hated the sense of clarity he got when not pepped up and impulsively on coffee. The world made more sense to him when he was partially out of it. Thinking of out... he had another urge. He excused himself from Alan for his lunch break, letting him know he might take longer as he left.

It was odd going to that same room again, the laser still stood in its silent expectations. Sure he was going to drop in unannounced, but... part of him was sure there wouldn't be any issues in that.


End file.
